Immunogenetics of mycobacterial infections: mouse-human homologies

In the mouse, innate resistance or susceptibility to infection with numerous mycobacteria is controlled by the Bcg host resistance locus located on the centromeric region of chromosome 1. The resistance/susceptibility phenotype is expressed by the mature tissue macrophage and Bcg has been identified as a locus that is involved in the regulation of macrophage activation and in the modulation of acquired immune responses to mycobacteria. Experiments aimed at the cloning of the Bcg gene via a "reverse genetics" approach have generated a detailed genetic map in the immediate vicinity of the locus, placing Bcg within the reach of long-range eukaryotic cloning techniques. The chromosomal segment around Bcg in the mouse is exactly conserved onto the long arm (q) of human chromosome 2. Linkage of genetic markers from human chromosome 2q with susceptibility to leprosy or tuberculosis would support both the existence of a susceptibility gene in humans and the contention that this susceptibility gene is a homologue of the mouse Bcg locus.